The U.N. humanitarian chief called Israel’s decision “alarming,” noting that international humanitarian law makes it clear that aid access must be allowed. Israel faced sharp criticism as it stopped the entry of all food and other supplies into Gaza on Sunday and warned of “additional consequences” for Hamas if a fragile ceasefire isn’t extended. Mediators Egypt and Qatar accused Israel of violating humanitarian law by using starvation as a weapon. The ceasefire’s first phase saw a surge in humanitarian aid after months of growing hunger. Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the next phase Sunday hours after its first phase had ended and called Israel’s decision to cut off aid “a war crime and a blatant attack” on a truce that took a year of negotiations before taking hold in January. In the second phase, Hamas would release dozens of remaining hostages in return for an Israeli pullout from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire. Negotiations on the second phase were meant to start a month ago but haven’t begun. Israel backs a new proposal to speed up the release of hostages Israel said Sunday that a new U.S. proposal calls for extending the ceasefire through Ramadan — the Muslim holy month that began over the weekend — and the Jewish Passover holiday, which ends April 20. Under that proposal, Hamas would release half the hostages on the first day and the rest when an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The militants currently hold 59 hostages, 35 of them believed to be dead. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the United States would support whatever decision Israel makes, without commenting on the new proposal. Netanyahu said Israel is fully coordinated with the Trump administration and the ceasefire will only continue as long as Hamas keeps releasing hostages. The U.N. and others warn against aid cutoff Saying the ceasefire has saved countless lives, the International Committee of the Red Cross said that “any unraveling of the forward momentum created over the last six weeks risks plunging people back into despair.” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called Israel’s decision “alarming,” noting that international humanitarian law makes clear that aid access must be allowed. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to make every effort to prevent a return to hostilities in Gaza and called for humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately and for the release of all hostages, said spokesman St�phane Dujarric. Five non-governmental groups asked Israel’s Supreme Court for an interim order barring the state from preventing aid from entering Gaza, claiming the move violates Israel’s obligations under international law: “These obligations cannot be condition on political considerations.” The war has left most of Gaza’s population of over 2 million dependent on international aid. About 600 aid trucks had entered daily since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, easing fears of famine raised by international experts. But residents said prices shot up as word of the closure spread. From the heavily destroyed Jabalia urban refugee camp, Fayza Nassar said the closure would worsen dire conditions. “There will be famine and chaos,” she said. Hamas warned that any attempt to delay or cancel the ceasefire agreement would have “humanitarian consequences” for the hostages. The only way to free them is through the existing deal, the group said. Families of hostages again pressed Israel’s government. “Postponing the negotiation on the deal for everyone’s (release) can’t happen,” Lishay Miran-Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran, said in Tel Aviv. “Hostages don’t have time to wait for an ideal deal.” Israel was accused of blocking aid throughout the war Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in the war’s opening days and only eased it under U.S. pressure. U.N. agencies and aid groups accused Israel of not facilitating enough aid during 15 months of war. The International Criminal Court said there was reason to believe Israel had used “starvation as a method of warfare” when it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last year. The allegation is also central to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. Israel has denied the accusations. It says it has allowed in enough aid and blamed shortages on what it called the U.N.’s inability to distribute it. It also accused Hamas of siphoning off aid — an allegation that Netanyahu repeated Sunday. Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch, said Israel as an occupying power has an “absolute duty” to facilitate humanitarian aid under the Geneva Conventions, and called Israel’s decision “a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy” that led to the ICC warrant. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. Israel’s offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says more than half of those killed were women and children. It does not specify how many of the dead were combatants. Israeli bombardment pounded large areas of Gaza to rubble and displaced some 90% of the population.

It already has the world’s largest navy, but new satellite imagery shows that China is developing a huge nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that would rival the biggest vessel in the American fleet, five analysts told NBC News after studying new satellite imagery. The images of China’s Dalian shipbuilding facility in northeast China suggest that the new ship will allow fighter jets to be launched from four parts of the flight deck, leading analysts to conclude that the images suggest a new ship design — unlike anything now in the Chinese fleet. The analysts made the assessment after examining images provided to NBC News by Maxar Technologies, a defense contractor headquartered in Colorado used by the U.S. government. China’s three current aircraft carriers have the capacity to launch jets from only three parts on the front and the waist, or center, on the deck. Its latest supercarrier, the recently launched Fujian, a Type 003, has three electromagnetic catapult launching systems to propel fighter jets, said Michael Duitsman, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a California-based nongovernment organization devoted to curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The United States has 11 supercarriers that can launch from four places. “We think this is them testing equipment and layouts for the upcoming Type 04 carrier,” Duitsman said in a video call this week. The general consensus, he said, is" that the new carrier will have four catapults,” which would allow more planes to take off and match U.S. carriers like the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier. To accommodate four catapults, the ship will need to be larger than the Fujian, matching American tonnage and powered by a nuclear reactor. The satellite images of China’s Dalian shipbuilding facility in northeast China show an engineering prototype of a module with two tracks, or trenches. These tracks “obviously are related to catapults,” said H.I Sutton, an independent naval analyst based in the U.K. “But this is not the actual carrier under construction. Instead what it suggests is that the yard is gearing up to produce carriers,” he said in a telephone interview last week. China has not acknowledged it is developing a new supercarrier, and Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the embassy in Washington, had no comment when asked about the new design. He said that the country’s national defense policy is “purely defensive in nature.” The United States has nonetheless made no secret that it sees China as a priority. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told NATO leaders this month that they should take up more of the security burden in Europe to free up American firepower. He said the United States faced a “peer competitor in the communist Chinese, with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific.” He added that the United States was “prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific.”

Egypt, which helped broker January’s ceasefire deal, condemned Israel’s move, saying it is using “starvation as a weapon.” Israel halted all entry of humanitarian aid and goods into the Gaza Strip on Sunday and warned of “further consequences” after Hamas refused to accept its proposal to extend the first phase of the fragile ceasefire deal. This followed a U.S. announcement that it would expedite the delivery of $4 billion in military aid to Israel and reverse a partial arms embargo from the Biden administration. On Sunday morning, thousands of aid trucks were seen piling up at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing after Israel closed its checkpoints into Gaza. The first phase of the Hamas-Israel ceasefire expired Saturday, and negotiations for the second phase, which would ultimately lead to the end of the war, have been stalled for weeks. “Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided that, as of this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will cease,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, adding: “If Hamas continues its refusal, there will be further consequences.” Egypt, which helped broker the original ceasefire deal, condemned Israel’s closure of Gaza, with the foreign minister Badr Abdelatty accusing Israel of using aid “as a weapon of collective punishment and starvation.” Basem Naim, a senior official for Hamas’ political bureau, said Israel was “sabotaging” the existing three-phase ceasefire agreement both sides had signed in January. He condemned Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump administration for what he called “a blatant coup against the ceasefire deal,” adding that Israel bears “all the responsibility for escalating the situation and for the lives of the people on both sides.” Israel’s announcement came after Netanyahu held an overnight security meeting where Israel adopted a plan by U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff that proposed extending the first phase of the six-week ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, rather than moving to the second phase of negotiations outlined under the original agreement. Under Witkoff’s proposal, half of the remaining hostages, including the bodies of those who have died, would also be released on the first day, with the remaining released when both sides successfully negotiate a permanent ceasefire, according to Netanyahu’s office. Hamas has refused the proposal, insisting that the ceasefire talks proceed to the second stage, which would see the release of additional hostages and prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and lead to a permanent end to the war. Hamas said Israel’s decision to halt aid amounted to “blackmailing” and urged mediators U.S., Egypt and Qatar to put pressure on Israel to implement humanitarian protocol under the ceasefire. Since the ceasefire agreement came into effect on Jan. 19, more than 10,000 aid trucks carrying food, medicine and tents have arrived in Gaza, according to the United Nations’ top aid official, Tom Fletcher. The first phase also halted months of fighting and saw the exchange of 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The current war began with the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were captured, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s ensuing military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry, destroyed much of the enclave and forcibly displaced most of its population of 2.2 million. Israeli far-right lawmakers welcomed Netanyahu’s decision to block aid. “The decision we made last night to completely halt the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza ... is an important step in the right direction — ‘the threshold of the gates of hell,’” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X on Sunday. He then called for the gates of hell to be opened “as quickly and as lethally as possible.” By Sunday morning, Israeli forces had killed at least four people across Gaza, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, director general of field hospitals, told NBC News. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip — charges Israel rejects. The Biden administration also rejected the arrest warrants, but along with many members of the international community warned of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza after Israel allowed little aid to enter during more than a year of fighting. The International Red Cross, which has acted as a neutral humanitarian intermediary to oversee hostage-prisoner swaps, urged both sides to keep “the forward momentum” of the ceasefire’s last six weeks going. “Every effort must be made to maintain the ceasefire so that lives are spared from hostilities, humanitarian aid enters Gaza, and more families are reunited,” the aid group said in a statement Sunday. The aid closure also extinguished a rare, brief moment of celebration in Gaza, where Palestinians had gathered, often among the rubble, for the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month commemorated with daytime fasts and nighttime feasts. On Friday, 12-year-old Hala Nagy Abou Mostafa expressed hope and relief in an interview with NBC's crew in Gaza. “Last year, during Ramadan, we lived in tents in Rafah. Ramadan last year was very difficult," Hala said. "But we will be happy this year. We will eat Suhoor at our homes in Khan Younis and feel very joyful," she said, referring to the pre-dawn meal before the start of the day's fast. "The difference between Ramadan this year and last year is that there is a truce, and we hope it holds so the war doesn’t return," she added, not knowing then what the coming days would bring.

Israel had sought to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, while Hamas pushed to begin negotiations for a second phase that would ultimately lead to the end of the war. The six-week ceasefire in Gaza expired Saturday, with Hamas accusing Israel of “evading the commitment to end the war and withdraw completely from Gaza.” “There are no negotiations” regarding the second phase, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al-Araby TV on Saturday, adding that Israel’s proposal to extend the first phase “is unacceptable to us." Later on Saturday evening, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will adopt a plan by U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff that would extend the temporary ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, which conclude at the end of March and on April 20, respectively. Under the proposal, half of the remaining hostages, including bodies of those who have died, would be released on day one of its execution, with the rest released upon successful negotiation of a permanent ceasefire, according to Netanyahu's office. Israel’s move to adopt the plan was made during an overnight security meeting, it said. If a more permanent deal is out of reach on the 42nd day of peace negotiations, Israel can return to fighting, Netanyahu’s office said. That provision, it said, is supported by the Trump administration. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Hamas has yet to accept the proposal and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement from Netanyahu’s office. Separately, Israel has not confirmed the latest developments in its negotiations with Hamas and also did not respond to a request for comment. Israel said it would immediately begin negotiating on the details of the plan if Hamas changes its stance. Talks on the second phase were set to begin weeks ago. In January, during the initial announcement of the agreement, then-President Joe Biden said the ceasefire would continue even after six weeks “as long as the negotiations continue.” The second phase of the ceasefire would have seen the release of additional hostages and prisoners, mark the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and ultimately lead to a permanent end to the war. Hamas has retained 27 hostages who are still alive and more than 30 who are believed to be dead, according to an NBC News tally. The U.S., Egypt and Qatar — the three countries that helped mediate the deal — continue to act as guarantors of the agreement. Amid concerns around the truce, the Pentagon said Friday that the U.S. State Department had approved the potential sale of nearly $3 billion worth of bombs and other weaponry to Israel on an emergency basis. The sale marked the second time the Trump administration declared an emergency to approve weapons sales to Israel since last month. The fragile ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on Jan. 19, halted months of fighting and allowed the exchange of 33 Israeli and five Thai hostages for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Under the agreement, Israeli forces were due to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor on Saturday, a provision that has remained a major sticking point in the ceasefire negotiations. Israel earlier said it would not allow Hamas to take over the corridor. “We will not withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor. We will not allow Hamas murderers to roam our borders again with trucks and rifles, and we will not let them rearm through smuggling,” an Israeli official told NBC News on Thursday, referring to the weapons and other materials that entered Gaza over the Egyptian border. The narrow strip of land that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt and includes the key Rafah border crossing has also been a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza — allowing the entry of goods and humanitarian aid in the years before the war. Another major sticking point is Hamas’ continued presence in Gaza. On Thursday, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told NBC News that the militant group would be willing to cede political and administrative power in the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian unity government, but would not disarm until an independent Palestinian state is achieved. Naim added that the group was also preparing for renewed fighting. “If they decide to escalate and to return back to war, we are preparing ourselves for all options,” he said. For now, the situation in the Gaza Strip has remained calm, according to NBC News’ crew on the ground. Footage from Friday captured Palestinians preparing for Ramadan as children gathered in the rubble-filled streets in Khan Younis to watch adults hang decorations and Palestinian flags beside the ruins of destroyed homes. Rehan Hazaam Shorab, a 30-year-old mother of two, made paper lanterns out of cardboard boxes from humanitarian aid packages. “The war has created a psychological state for us. I try to overcome the experiences I lived by working, channeling the negative energy into my work,” she said, adding, “I am worried that the war will resume. It was the worst day of our lives.” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged Israel and Hamas "to exercise maximum restraint and find a way forward on the next phase" of the ceasefire. "As Ramadan — a time of peace and reflection — begins, the Secretary-General calls on all sides to spare no efforts to end all violence," a spokesperson for Guterres said on his behalf. "The United Nations stands ready to support all such endeavours." The Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war saw about 1,200 people killed and 251 captured, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s ensuing military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry, destroyed much of the enclave, and forcibly displaced most of its population of 2.3 million.

The leader of Ontario, Doug Ford, has vowed to push back at US President Donald Trump after securing a third term in office as premier of Canada's most populous province. "Donald Trump thinks he can break us," he told the cheering crowds in Toronto, but the US president was mistaken, he added. "Canada is not for sale." Ford, who has led Ontario since 2018, called the snap election to get a clear mandate to fight US President Donald Trump over tariffs he threatens to impose on Canadian goods. The indications on Friday morning were that his Progressive Conservatives had won more than 80 seats out of 124 in the legislature. The left-wing New Democratic Party came second, forming the official opposition, while the Liberals were in third place. Ford pushed back in his election campaign against Trump's persistent references to Canada as the 51st US state, sporting a cap saying "Canada is not for sale." In his victory speech at a convention centre in Toronto, he said: "Donald Trump thinks he can break us. He thinks he can divide and conquer, pit region against region. "Donald Trump doesn't know what we know. He is underestimating us. He is underestimating the resilience of the Canadian people, the Canadian spirit." The election was called by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) 10 minutes after polls closed on Thursday evening. Voter turnout appears to be near historic lows. As of 23:00 local time (04:00 GMT) with 97% of polls reporting, just over 44% of Ontarians had cast ballots in the election. That is essentially tied with the lowest ever turnout of 44% in 2022. Ford ran his campaign under the slogan "Protect Canada", reflecting his view that Canada needs to stand firm against US tariff threats. Ford has appeared regularly on US television news networks in recent months as a de-facto spokesman for Canada's position in its fight against the tariffs. President Trump said on Thursday that the tariffs he planned to impose on Canada and Mexico would go ahead next week, after he delayed them a month in exchange for security assurances at the shared borders. Around 75% of Canadian exports go to the US, and economists have warned that the tariffs would be devastating for Canada's economy while raising costs for Americans. Ontario is home to a large automotive sector that is deeply intertwined with the US - car parts often make several trips back and forth across the US-Canada border before a vehicle is fully assembled and sold. Ford has suggested that 500,000 of Ontario's 16 million people could lose their jobs if the US follows through on the blanket 25% tariffs. He has called for strong retaliation, suggesting Canada cut its energy supply to the US and calling for provincial liquor stores to pull American booze from their shelves. He has also proposed the idea of "Fortress Am-Can" - a slogan to sell Trump on a stronger energy alliance between the two countries in a bid to avoid tariffs altogether. Opposition parties have criticised Ford for calling the snap election, accusing him of taking advantage of the rift in US-Canada relations to boost his own popularity. They also questioned the decision to push for a costly election amid economic uncertainty. Ford has also been the subject of numerous controversies, including an ongoing criminal investigation into a deal to sell a piece of environmentally protected land for real estate development. At a speech to supporters on Thursday, Bonnie Crombie, leader of the Ontario Liberals, said that while the party fell short of forming a government it should be "very proud" of the seats it gained. "People counted us out. Tonight, you proved them wrong," said Crombie, who failed to win her own seat. She vowed to continue on as leader. The last time a government in Ontario formed three consecutive majorities was under Leslie Frost, a Progressive Conservative leader who won his third and final term in 1959.

TEL AVIV — Hamas is willing to cede political power and administrative governance of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian unity government, but would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is achieved, Basem Naim, a senior political official for Hamas, told NBC News. “We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance to hand it over to a body, a government, a committee, that is ready to run the Gaza Strip,” Naim said. Naim made his comments during a critical impasse: The first phase of a tenuous deal between Hamas and Israel is set to end on Saturday, and no arrangements have been made for continuing the ceasefire. While there have been few publicly acknowledged negotiations to extend the truce into a second phase, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it will soon send a diplomatic delegation to Cairo to continue talks. Naim said that beyond that public announcement, Hamas had not been officially notified of Israel's intention to resume negotiations. It was unclear whether Israeli officials would seek to extend the first phase of the agreement or negotiate terms for a second phase, which could ultimately lead to a more permanent ceasefire and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Naim said Israel was deliberately delaying further negotiations to create a pretext for returning to war against Hamas. “We believe that this is intentionally done to escalate the situation or to push the second-phase negotiations under the threat to return back to war and not to withdraw from the Gaza Strip,” he said. Israeli troops are supposed to start withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border area on Saturday, marking the end of the ceasefire's first phase. However, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan on Thursday that Israel has demanded that their military stay in the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. The last step of the agreement’s six-week first phase came overnight, when Israel released more than 600 Palestinian prisoners after Hamas handed over the corpses of four Israeli hostages killed during captivity in the Gaza Strip. Under the ceasefire’s terms — which were reached with help from intermediaries Qatar and Egypt in late January, after more than a year of fraught negotiations — talks on the second stage should have begun weeks ago. But rather than returning to the negotiating table, each side has repeatedly accused the other of violating the agreement’s terms. Several of the weekly exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners have been dogged by last-minute accusations and near-cancellations. Hamas has stated before that it is willing to cede governance of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body, and Israel has made clear that any plan for Gaza’s “day after” should not include Hamas, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on southern Israel. On that day, about 1,200 people were killed and 250 were kidnapped, according to local officials, sparking Israel's 15-month war on Gaza that has killed at least 48,300 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave. The thorniest question standing in the way of negotiating the second phase of an agreement remains whether Hamas will disarm. Netanyahu has declared Hamas’ destruction as the primary goal of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip — sometimes, his critics have said, superseding the freedom and welfare of the Israeli hostages still being held there. Though he reiterated Hamas’ offer to integrate into a Palestinian unity government, Basem Naim said the group would only disarm and transform into a purely political party if Palestinians are granted an independent political state — a condition that Netanyahu and his right-wing allies in government have repeatedly rejected. “These are two different tracks. The arms are related to the existence or the presence of the occupation,” he said, referring to Israel's ongoing presence in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. If an independent Palestinian state is created, Naim said, “we are ready again to become a political party and to integrate our fighters into a Palestinian national army.” Israeli military leaders have repeatedly made clear that they are prepared to return to war if the agreement collapses, going so far as to call up reservists for renewed fighting. Though Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire agreement, Naim said, the group is also preparing for renewed fighting. “If they decide to escalate and to return back to war, we are preparing ourselves for all options,” he said. “We have no choice other than to defend ourselves, as we have done already along the 15 months.”

An Israeli minister said Israel was in a stronger position to negotiate now than on the eve of the ceasefire because it has full backing from the Trump administration. Militant group Hamas said on Thursday it was ready to begin talks on the second phase of a ceasefire in Gaza after several hundred Palestinians were released from Israeli jails overnight in return for the bodies of four Israeli hostages. In a statement early Thursday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had ordered a delegation of negotiators to be send to Cairo, Egypt the same day to continue talks. It was the final exchange of the six-week first phase of a ceasefire that came into effect on January 19 in the war in Gaza. Talks have yet to begin on a second phase, meant to lead ultimately to a permanent end to the war that began in October 2023 when Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli towns and Israel responded with a retaliatory assault that has devastated the enclave. Hamas said on Thursday the only way remaining hostages in Gaza would be freed is through commitment to the ceasefire. “We renew our full commitment to the ceasefire agreement, and confirm our readiness to enter into negotiations for the second phase of the agreement,” the group said in a statement. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said returning the remaining 59 hostages was a top priority, but that there will be no agreement on the second stage of the ceasefire if Hamas is left intact in Gaza. “Our demands are clear,” Cohen, a security cabinet member, told public broadcaster Kan. Cohen said Israel was in a stronger position to negotiate now than it was on the eve of the ceasefire because it has full backing from the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, which this month began shipping heavy bombs. Egyptian mediators on Wednesday secured the handover of the bodies of the final four hostages in the deal’s first phase, in return for 620 Palestinians either detained by Israeli forces in Gaza or jailed in Israel. Israel had earlier refused to release prisoners on Saturday after Hamas handed over six hostages in a staged ceremony. Hamas had been displaying living hostages and coffins carrying hostage remains on stage in front of a crowd in Gaza before handing them over, to sharp criticism including from the United Nations. The final handover did not include such a ceremony. Israel received coffins carrying the remains of the four hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in the early hours of Thursday. President Isaac Herzog in a post on X confirmed the bodies as those of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur, all of whom were abducted during the October 7, 2023, attack from their kibbutz homes near Gaza. “In this difficult hour, there is some comfort in the fact that they will be laid to rest in the tomb of Israel,” he wrote. Hamas took 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people in its October raid on southern Israeli communities, according to Israel. At least 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, Palestinian authorities say. The war has laid waste to the crowded coastal enclave and displaced the majority of its population multiple times. The Palestinians released overnight include 445 men and 24 women and minors detained in Gaza, as well as 151 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, according to a Hamas source. One bus transported detainees from Israel’s Ofer prison in the Occupied West Bank to Ramallah where cheering crowds had gathered to greet them. Released prisoner Bilal Yassin, 42, told Reuters he had been in Israeli detention for 20 years. “Our sacrifices and imprisonment were not in vain,” Yassin said. “We had confidence in the [Palestinian] resistance.” Nearly 100 more Palestinian prisoners were handed over to Egypt, where they will stay until another country accepts them, according to a Hamas source and Egyptian media.

TEL AVIV, Israel — An investigation by the Israeli military has determined that Hamas was able to carry out the deadliest attack in Israeli history on Oct. 7, 2023, because the much more powerful Israeli army misjudged the militant group’s intentions and underestimated its capabilities. The findings, released Thursday, could pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a widely demanded broader inquiry to examine the political decision-making that preceded the attack, which triggered the war in Gaza. Many Israelis believe the mistakes of Oct. 7 extend beyond the military, and they blame Netanyahu for what they view as a failed strategy of deterrence and containment in the years leading up to the attack. That strategy included allowing Qatar to send suitcases of cash into Gaza and sidelining Hamas’ rival, the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The prime minister has not taken responsibility, saying he will answer tough questions only after the war, which has been paused for nearly six weeks by a tenuous ceasefire. Despite public pressure, including from the families of the roughly 1,200 people killed in the Oct. 7 attack and the 251 taken as hostages into Gaza, Netanyahu has resisted calls for a commission of inquiry. The military’s main findings were that the region’s most powerful and sophisticated military misread Hamas’ intentions, underestimated its capabilities and was wholly unprepared for the surprise attack by thousands of heavily armed militants in the early morning hours of a major Jewish holiday. The military’s findings are in line with past conclusions reached by officials and analysts. The military released only a summary of the report and military officials outlined its findings. “Oct. 7 was a complete failure,” said one military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. A central misconception was that Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, was more interested in governing the territory than fighting Israel, the inquiry found. The military also misjudged the militant group’s capabilities. Military planners had envisioned that, at worst, Hamas could stage a ground invasion from up to eight border points, the official said. In fact, Hamas had more than 60 attack routes. Intelligence assessed in the aftermath of the attack has shown Hamas came close to staging the offensive on three earlier occasions but delayed it for unknown reasons, the official said. The official said that in the hours before the attack, there were signs that something was amiss, including when Hamas fighters switched their phones over to the Israeli network. The perception that Hamas did not want war guided decision makers away from taking action that might have thwarted the attack. The Israeli military official said intelligence shows that Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack who was killed last October, had begun planning it as early as 2017. With the military off guard on a holiday weekend, Hamas launched a heavy wave of rockets that allowed thousands of fighters to burst through the security fence or fly over it on hang gliders. They knocked out surveillance cameras and quickly overwhelmed hundreds of soldiers stationed along the border. From there they advanced to key highway intersections and attacked troops dispatched to the area, including some senior officers, disrupting the military’s command and control, according to a second military official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. For the first three hours after the attack, Hamas fighters marauded through border communities and a music festival with little resistance. That was when most of the 251 hostages were taken and most people were killed, the official said. The official said the chaos led to friendly fire incidents, although he said there were not many, without disclosing a figure. It took hours for the military to regain control and days until the area was fully cleared of militants. According to the first official, the report blamed the military for being overconfident in its knowledge and not showing enough doubt in its core concepts and beliefs. It did not place blame on any individual soldiers or officers, but is likely to pave the way for a reckoning in the military and eventual dismissals. Some high-ranking officers have already resigned, including the former head of military intelligence and Israel’s top general, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who steps down next week.

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition to revoke Elon Musk's Canadian citizenship amid tensions between the Trump administration and Canada. The petition, which opened to signatures five days ago, accuses Mr Musk of acting against Canada's national interest and undermining its sovereignty. In Canada, citizenship can be revoked only if someone has committed fraud, misrepresented themselves or knowingly hid information on an immigration or citizenship application. Mr Musk, who was born in South Africa, holds both Canadian and US citizenship. Responding to the petition, the billionaire wrote on X: "Canada is not a real country." The post was later deleted. The petition claims the billionaire "has used his wealth and power to influence our elections" and "has now become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty". Mr Musk has Canadian citizenship through his mother, who was born in Saskatchewan. It is mostly symbolic and has no legal force. But petitions with at least 500 signatures and a member of parliament's backing typically receive a government response, this one may not, as a spring election could dissolve parliament. It was created by a British Columbia author and endorsed by MP Charlie Angus of the New Democratic Party. Angus, a 20-year MP for Timmins–James Bay, has announced he will not seek re-election. US-Canada tensions have escalated since Trump's return, with the president repeatedly suggesting Canada could become a US state and threatening tariffs on steel, aluminium, and other imports. Canadian leaders have pushed back, vowing counter-tariffs. The spat has spilled out beyond government, with Canadians cancelling US trips, boycotting American products, and booing opposing anthems at hockey and basketball games. Mr Musk moved to Canada from South Africa at 18, and worked odd jobs before studying at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He later emigrated to the US. The billionaire has backed Trump's hardline immigration policies but now faces scrutiny over claims he worked illegally in the US on a student visa. In a recent interview, Steve Bannon, a former advisor to President Trump, called Mr Musk a "parasitic illegal immigrant". The Tesla CEO has denied the accusations, and has said he did not work illegally. He became a naturalised US citizen in 2002, according to a recent biography.

After back-to-back debates in both English and French, the candidates to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party in Canada have made their case to voters. Card-holding Liberals will now choose between former governor of the banks of Canada and England Mark Carney, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, House government leader Karina Gould and businessman and former MP Frank Baylis. Whoever wins the vote on 9 March will become Canada's next prime minister and will lead the Liberals in the forthcoming general election, which must be held on or before 20 October of this year. A big focus of the debates has been how Canada should respond to US President Donald Trump, who has threatened steep tariffs on America's northern neighbour and has suggested that Canada become the "51st state." Here are five big takeaways from the two Liberal leadership debates. The Trump Factor How Canada should respond to what many have dubbed an "existential threat" from US President Donald Trump has unsurprisingly dominated the agenda at both debates. Trump has said he plans to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian exports, with the exception of energy that would be tariffed at a lower 10% - a move that economists say would be devastating for Canada while increasing prices for Americans. He has also repeatedly proposed that the US should annex Canada, which has been met with alarm and anger from large swathes of the Canadian population. Freeland, a former top minister who served during Trump's first term, positioned herself as an experienced negotiator who has fought - and won - against the US president and his previous tariffs. But Carney warned that the Trump of today was not the Trump of the past. "He is more isolationist. He is more aggressive," Carney said. "In the past he wanted our markets. Now he wants our country." Gould, the youngest candidate, suggested that Canada should "put everything on the table" to protect its sovereignty, and that the federal government should help businesses diversify their portfolios to depend less on the US. Baylis, meanwhile, said Canada needed to forge closer economic ties with the UK, New Zealand and Australia, saying all four were like-minded countries with shared values, culture, and government systems. How Canada can fix its economy Trump's threats are made more alarming by Canada's current economic situation. Canadians have voiced frustrations over the stubborn high cost of living. Carney - an economist by trade - promised a plan that would balance Canada's operational budget in three years and proposed that Canada rethink the way it spends its money. But he has also noted his support for key Liberal programmes, like affordable childcare and dental care. As the former finance minister, Freeland defended her track record, saying the country's finances were still "very strong". She added that Canada should capitalise on the surge of patriotism in the face of Trump's threats, using that momentum to support Canadian industries and promote job growth. Baylis drew on his expertise as a businessman to say that Canada should work on building its productivity. Gould, on the other hand, said the Liberal Party should be "realistic with Canadians" and that balancing the budget in three years was not possible without significant cuts, which she did not support. She said Canada should instead focus on "modernising its social safety net" to help those who are struggling. "We are facing extreme threats from the US, so we have to be able to invest in our people and in our businesses to protect them," Gould said. Defeating Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre The four candidates were debating with each other but they often presented a united front against their shared opponent, Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party is favoured in the polls as the most likely to form Canada's next government. Liberal leadership hopefuls threw several jabs at Poilievre throughout the debate. Gould called him "our little version of Trump here at home" while Freeland said Poilievre was looking to "imitate" Trump. Carney criticised Poilievre as "irresponsible" and added that Canada could "not afford" to have him as prime minister. Poilievre, who has enjoyed a sizable lead in the polls ahead of an unpopular Trudeau, has had to pivot his pitch to Canadians since Trudeau's resignation. His message changed from criticising the sitting prime minister for leading a "broken" Canada to putting "Canada First" in the face of threats from the US. He has also shifted his focus to attacking Carney, who is favoured to win the Liberal leadership race. Poilievre is still polling ahead nationally, but some polls suggest that the lead between him and the Liberals has shrunk since Trudeau's exit. Supporting Ukraine and Nato Responding to shifting US policy on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, all four candidates affirmed their commitment to continuing Canada's support for Ukraine. All of them also backed the need for Canada to hit its 2% military spending target as set out in its commitments to the Nato alliance, though they disagreed on the timeline and how to get there. Freeland said Canada should hit the target by 2027, and should do so by investing in the "next generation of warfare". Baylis and Carney have said their plan would be for Canada to reach that target by 2030. Both Freeland and Carney said Canada needed to invest that money into Canadian military ventures instead of into the US. Freeland noted that Canada should reduce its reliance on the US, and should look to work with the EU and other Nato partners on security assurances. A rethink of the consumer tax on carbon A tax on carbon for consumers and businesses has been the cornerstone of the Trudeau government's policy on climate change. But that tax has proven to be unpopular with Canadians, forcing Carney and Freeland to promise that they would ditch the policy. Carney, a former UN special envoy on climate action and finance, has long been a proponent of the carbon tax. In the debates, however, he acknowledged the tax on consumers had become divisive, and said he would instead focus on taxing big polluters and growing clean energy projects in Canada. Freeland, who resigned from Trudeau's government because of disagreements with the prime minister on spending, said that history would judge his climate action favourably despite his policies' unpopularity. But she, too, vowed to scrap the carbon tax. "Democracy is about listening to people, and Canadians were very clear with us that they did not think that policy worked for them," she said. Gould and Baylis, on the other hand, said they would keep some version of the consumer tax on carbon in place, saying that fighting climate change comes with a price.